For those of you who think they might have accidentally stumbled
into a War and Peace site, I will explain. Around issues#50-61of Avengers
West Coast, Immortus was shown erasing various alternate timelines. Most
of these timelines were shown in quick cameos of a page or two. Interestingly,
they generally did not involve divergences related to usual Marvel characters,
but rather historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln. Although a few of
these alternate Earths received two to three page sequences showing Immortus
erasing them during this run of AWC, apparently Earth-Napoleon Wins did not,
and was only mentioned in AWC#61.

An odd sidebar is that many of the historical figures shown
in these quick vignettes (Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon) came at
points of history after Immortus' native world (Other-Earth) had diverged
from Earth-616. Immortus' world diverged from the history of Earth-616 (and
that of the real world) around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire,
since in Immortus' world, the Dark Ages never happened. This was established
in Fantastic Four I#272-273.

However, as also shown in those Fantastic Four issues, during
the pre-modern era, Nathaniel Richards from Earth-616 travelled to Other-Earth
and became an important leader there. As established in a back-up in Captain
America Annual#11, Richards had historical records of Earth-616 figures such
as Captain America with him, so he may have also had records about Elizabeth
I, Abraham Lincoln, et al. --I'd say Immortus, who sought to be the whole master of all time, has
extensive records on every single timeline--Snood.

Napoleon at Marvel

One of the earliest Marvel Napoleon appearances occurs in
Timely's Red Raven Comics#1 (April 1940), in the Magar the Mystic story.
In that story, Magar summons Napoleon's ghost to help the French against
the Germans. Probably begrudgingly, Napoleon tells Magar to summon the ghost
of Wellington, his British enemy. Solomon, Mata Hari, Houdini, and Edison
also appear in this story.

Napoleon has made very few appearances in more recent comics,
but in the days of Atlas he showed up rather more frequently. Accounts of
his life, including the Battle of Waterloo, appeared in Man Comics#22-24
and Battle#28. In fantasy titles, Napoleon appeared in Mystic#44, Uncanny
Tales#13, and Tales to Astonish#13. In Adventures Into Weird Worlds#21, Napoleon
I was depicted in Hell with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, as both
refused to vouch for the soul of Adolf Hitler.

As for more recent appearances...well, Napoleon was mentioned
in the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo, so he may have appeared
in the Marvel Classics Comics#17 adaptation of the novel. In Doctor Strange
III#15/2, Napoleon is mentioned in connection with the Malachy Prophecy,
since Napoleon's 1801 Concordat with the Vatican is seen as part of a turning
point for the papacy, as it may involve another coming of Chthon, possibly
(according to Doctor Strange Annual#2/2) connected to
Varnae.

At Epic, Napoleon appeared in Amazing High Adventure#3 in
a Mike Mignola tale of his 1798 Egyptian adventure. Napoleon's expedition
occurred so that he could use Egypt as a base from which to attack Britain's
Indian territory and cut off the British supply line. Though not a successful
battle, Napoleon's soldiers did uncover the Rosetta Stone, which allowed
Egyptian hieroglyphs to be decoded.

Napoleon Not Actually French

Napoleon, by the way, was not really French. His family was
from Corsica, an island acquired by France from one of the Italian countries
(Italy did not exist as one country at this point in history) one year before
Napoleon was born. Earlier than that, the Buonapartes (the original spelling)
had lived in Florence as late as the sixteenth century. Napoleon himself
spoke Italian, often reverting to it in times of stress.

Other Napoleons

Napoleon I was followed by only one other Emperor of the French
named Napoleon, his nephew Napoleon III, who took power in 1852. Napoleon
III took that numbering since he knew that Napoleon I had wanted his son
by an Austrian Hapsburg princess to rule; however, after Napoleon I's defeat
at Waterloo (see below), this Austrian son never ruled, since the previous
Bourbon royal family was restored in France. (Napoleon III was himself deposed
in 1870 and moved to England.)

After his death in the early 1820's, Napoleon II's body, since
his mother was an Austrian princess, was not returned to France, but kept
within the crypt of the Hapsburgs. However, oddly enough,
Adolf Hitler in 1940 allowed the French
government to have Napoleon II's body and it was accordingly buried next
to Napoleon I's corpse.

Historical Background

For some relevant historical background; Napoleon I, Emperor
of the French, had managed to subdue much of Europe thanks to his armies.
However, the British remained outside of his control, since they had a much
stronger navy than France. So, Napoleon hit upon the idea of an economic
blockade: the Continental System. With the Berlin Decree of 1806, Napoleon
banned the importation of British products into mainland Europe.

However, Russia on December 31, 1810, left the Continental
System and resumed trade with Great Britain. With about 655,000 men Napoleon
attacked Russia-actually too many soldiers, since leading, feeding, and supplying
that many men was hard in hostile territory. Napoleon arrived in Russia in
June 1812. The Russians, rather than engage Napoleon in a decisive battle,
retreated, forcing Napoleon to follow. The French fought the Russians at
Borodino, which Napoleon did win, but the Russian army continued to withdraw
and pursued a scorched Earth policy; cities and towns were burned to the
ground to prevent the Napoleonic army from comfortably encamping there. On
September 14, 1812, Napoleon found the devastated Moscow. By the time Napoleon
returned to Europe, 400,000 of his soldiers had died, while 100,000 had been
imprisoned.

Though Napoleon managed to return to France from Russia in
13 days (an amazing feat at that point in time), and raised an army in the
early months of 1813 when his enemies started to gang up on him after seeing
Napoleon humiliated in Russia, his glory days were over. In October 1813,
at the Battle of Leipzig, Napoleon was defeated. He was exiled to the island
of Elba in the Mediterranean.

Though Napoleon later returned from Elba to France on March
1, 1815, to form a new army in another attempt at glory, that was only to
face, 100 days later, his Waterloo (and 150 years later the embarrassment
of the ABBA song). (Benito Mussolini wrote a play about this time called
The One Hundred Days, which is appropriate, since as noted above, Napoleon
was actually Italian.)Boo! ABBA rocks!!! I have special appreciation for the song Waterloo, as, in
the Simpson episode where Homer was reunited with his mother, Old Man Burns
(who'd wanted vengeance on her for years for killing his biological weapons)
drove up triumphantly in a tank, and had Smithers play the tape he'd prepared,
Wagner's Flight of the Valkyrie (that's the Elmer Fudd, "Kill the Wabbit" song
to you and I). As Burns stands there, basking in his moment of glory, the song
suddenly cuts out, playing instead ABBA's Waterloo. Figuring that Burns would
never catch up with Mrs. Simpson, Burns had taped over it.

His Legacy

Napoleon stands at number seven of the ten men to have conquered
the most square miles. From 1796 to 1810, Napoleon conquered about 720,000
square miles, with his Grand Empire encompassing France, Belgium, Holland,
Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and Spain.

Napoleon also remains important due to his nimble statesmanship.
His legal system, the Code Napoleon, is still used in many European countries
and even in Louisiana. Napoleon spearheaded freedom of religion in Europe,
and reformed the courts and schools of France.

Napoleon's overactive military agression was, one must admit,
a tad too rambunctious. Napoleon's own personal goal for Europe entailed
establishing a unified, pan-European state comparable to the United States
of America, a "federation of free peoples". This "United States of Europe"
idea has somewhat come true with the European Union.

Napoleon deserves credit for extending the Code Napoleon to
the lands that he conquered, stamping out feudalism and serfdom. Each country
had a constitution including the rights of a free person, all males enfranchised
to vote, and a parliamentary body. Reformed, Napoleon-modeled administrative
and judicial systems emerged in these countries. The schools were placed
under the control of a central body, with free public schools starting up.
Anyone who wanted higher education and had the talent could get it, with
class or religion irrelevant. Each country opened a place of learning to
encourage the arts and sciences. Prominent scholars such as scientists received
funding for their work.

However, Napoleon also had a negative impact for France itself,
since his many wars resulted in a considerable reduction of the French population
due to casualties of adult males in combat. Due to the expotential nature
of the increase of population in Europe in the 1800's, the loss of one million
men had a serious impact on future French demographics. This weakened France,
since Germany ended up with a higher population than France in the 20th
century.

France today stands at number 5 on the list of most defeated
nations in modern history.

In the movies, many sources list Napoleon as the most often
portrayed historical figures, with some listings going up to about 200 films.
However, these lists probably include silent films, foreign films, tv movies,
and so forth. Napoleon was the subject of quite a few period costume dramas
in past decades, such as adaptions of Tolsoy's War and Peace, but probably
the most famous relatively recent portrayal of him was in Bill and Ted's
Excellent Adventure.

Ahh...the French

Napoleon wore red so that if he
were injured in the field of combat,
his troops would not be disheartened by the sight of him bleeding.

In the same tradition, the current French army has taken to wearing
brown pants...

ba-dump-bump, tish!!
Thank you, thank you...

--Snood...I take full credit/blame for
this last one!!
Actually, our own Will U tells me:
That little
joke has also been accredited to Lord Admiral Nelson.

by Per Degaton

Clarifications: Not
to be confused with:

any of the other hundreds of alternate Earths

Napoleon I should not be confused with:

Napoleon II, his son, who never ruled as Emperor of the
French.

Napoleon III, his nephew, who ruled as Emperor of the French
in the later half of the 1800's

Napoleon Bonaparte, son of Napoleon III, who never ruled,
and died in a battle with the Bantus while in the British army.